A growing collection of selected videos from the weekly Worldwide Online Sit, and more.
Feel inspired to make an offering to support the Worldwide Sit?
Totally optional, and always appreciated!
Jon Kabat-Zinn on the Worldwide Online Sit
2019 marks the 40th anniversary of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program, created by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Jon led a very special 1-hour, 40 minute edition of the Worldwide Online Sit on October 24, 2019. Click on the image to watch it!
"I’d like to applaud the effort—and the love behind it—on the part of Rebecca Eldridge and Margaret Fletcher to develop and host an online, totally free opportunity for people to come together each week and sit. Even though people tune in from all over the world, there is a feeling of intimacy and deep connection among the participants, because that intimacy is intrinsic to the human heart and mindfulness practice itself. I am grateful that East Coast Mindfulness is offering this opportunity to practice together every week via the Worldwide Online Sit. It has a beyond time and space element to it that is very powerful and restorative. I plan to join in when I can."
Susan Piver on the Worldwide Online Sit
Buddhist teacher, New York Times bestselling author and founder of the Open Heart Project Susan Piver led a special edition of the Worldwide Online Sit on November 21, 2019. Click on the image to watch it!
"East Coast Mindfulness makes it possible for people all over the world to meditate together with an experienced teacher. Too often, only those with time, money, and full mobility can access meditation instruction with a community. By holding these sessions online, they open the world of mindfulness far beyond its conventional boundaries. Thank you, Rebecca and Margaret."
David Gordon on the Worldwide Online Sit
David Gordon is the author of Mindful Dreaming, and is a clinical psychologist and founder of The Dreamwork Institute; David led a special edition of the Worldwide Online Sit on December 12, 2019. Click on the image to watch it!
“For those who worry that the internet has become a sad source of divisiveness in our lives, Rebecca and Margaret have brought us the healing gift of East Coast Mindfulness—a virtual online sanctuary offering the opportunity to take a few minutes out of our hassled day, to sit back and drop down into a deeper, more grounded place of stillness and peace. And when you do so you’ll be gently and wisely guided by two amazing, thoroughly modern teachers of this ancient powerful practice called Mindfulness. Attend a meeting just once and I know you’ll quickly find yourself at home in the presence of a caring worldwide community of like-minded people.”
Nancy Waring on the Worldwide Online Sit
Nancy Waring is the is the founding director of the Mindfulness Studies master’s degree program at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA, the only program of its kind in North America. She was also Margaret's advising professor when she completed her master’s degree through Lesley, and is ever her mentor and good friend in teaching. Nancy led a special edition of the Worldwide Online Sit on February 27, 2020. Click on the image to watch it!
Diane Reibel on the Worldwide Online Sit
Diane Reibel is the Director of the Myrna Brind Center for Mindfulness at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Jefferson, and Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Integrative Medicine at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. She is a certified MBSR teacher through the Center for Mindfulness at University of Massachusetts Medical Center and has been teaching MBSR for over 20 years to patients, healthcare professionals, medical and college students, and school teachers/administrators.
In addition to her passion for teaching mindfulness she studies the physiologic effects and health outcomes of mindfulness training and her research is published and widely cited in both scientific journals and the popular press. Dr. Reibel is coauthor of the book Teaching Mindfulness: A Practical Guide for Clinicians and Educators and co-editor of Resources for Teaching Mindfulness: An International Handbook. Diane led a special edition of the Worldwide Online Sit on March 19, 2020. Click on the image to watch it!
“It was an honor to be invited as a guest teacher for the Worldwide Online Sit and it was a true delight being with the online community. East Coast Mindfulness has created a sanctuary, a refuge for people from all over the world and all walks of life to join in and be nourished by mindfulness practice. What a gift for us, especially in the midst of these extraordinarily challenging times. I am deeply inspired and grateful for the dedication, care and skill that Rebecca and Margaret bring to all of their offerings. I trust that the ripple effect of their invaluable work will continue to spread far and wide.”
Norman Scrimshaw on the Worldwide Online Sit
Norman Scrimshaw is the co-founder of Awakening to the Heart, along with his wife and life partner, Cynthia Scrimshaw. Norman's search for wisdom spans more than 30 years, encompassing philosophy, psychology, reading, personal growth seminars, living in an Ashram, trips to India, and commitment on spiritual paths with Indian gurus. In the summer of 1999, he had the good fortune to meet his teacher Adyashanti. This was a powerful time of meditation and inquiry for Norman. As he puts it, "In the process of life itself, I saw thoughts losing their power to dictate identification with fear, emotional pain, and anger. I awakened to the living experience that the truth and essence of my being was found not in any thoughts, but in the awakened presence of my heart." Norman led a special edition of the Worldwide Online Sit on April 16, 2020. Click on the image to watch it!
Bob Stahl on the Worldwide Online Sit
Bob Stahl has founded eight Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programs in medical centers in the San Francisco Bay Area and is currently offering programs at Dominican Hospital, El Camino Hospitals in Los Gatos and Mt. View, and Good Samaritan Hospital. He also serves as a Senior Teacher for Brown University Mindfulness Center.
Bob teaches MBSR Teacher Trainings and Insight Meditation retreats worldwide and is the guiding teacher at Insight Santa Cruz and a visiting teacher at Spirit Rock and Insight Meditation Society. He is coauthor of 5 books: A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook (1st & 2nd editions), Living With Your Heart Wide Open, Calming the Rush of Panic, A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook for Anxiety, and MBSR Everyday. Bob led a special edition of the Worldwide Online Sit on May 14, 2020. Click on the image to watch it!
“I am so touched with East Coast Mindfulness offering free online live sits to the world-wide community of mindfulness teachers and students. I appreciate their generosity, hearts and wisdom.”
Anne Twohig on the Worldwide Online Sit
Anne Twohig is from Dublin, Ireland and now lives in the beautiful seaside town of Greystones, south of Dublin where she enjoys long walks by the sea and hiking in the hills of County Wicklow. She is a certified MBSR teacher and teacher trainer and the founder of the Centre for Mindfulness Ireland, which she established in 2007. Anne trained with the Center for Mindfulness (CFM), University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMass), and was a member of their professional teaching faculty from 2014 to 2018. Anne is now an adjunct faculty member with UCSD.
Anne says about Mindfulness in these times of Covid-19 – ‘Of course I do not know how it would be for me making my way through these very challenging times without my practice of mindfulness, however, I feel sure that it would be much more difficult than it is. It feels like mindfulness was fashioned for these times. I remember hearing one of my earlier teachers say how the practice of mindfulness is like credit in the bank for when you need it and I now understand these words with much greater depth. I have also heard it said that in times of trouble, the practice will find you. I know this to be true. It is the many wonderful qualities gently held within this practice that makes it an essential and reliable lifelong companion.’
Anne led a special edition of the Worldwide Online Sit on August 27, 2020, with a talk entitled "Sensing the Moment." Click on the image to watch it!
“The genuine love, care and energy Rebecca and Margaret offer each week to all of us attending the Worldwide Sit on Thursdays is deeply felt. It was a true honour for me to lead a sit for East Coast Mindfulness and be part of what is serving so many all around the world in ways we cannot even know. Rebecca and Margaret, you started this well in advance of Covid-19, you have created a community with shared intention, long may it continue.”
Pam Erdmann on the Worldwide Online Sit
Pam Erdmann claims herself as the oldest (eighty-three!) living MBSR teacher on the planet! She trained in the late 80s with Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli at U. Mass Medical School, teaching in the hospital and in the Massachsetts Prison System and the New Hampshire Prison system. Pam taught and trained teachers at the University of Bangor, Wales for twenty years as well as supervising folks in Ireland, Scotland, China, Finland, Portugal and Greece.
What Pam has to say right now: 'I have found Mindfulness invaluable in dealing both with old age and a world burning up. Coming back to the breath and body when things seem to spring toward a dark, dark place is invaluable. Sometimes, it seems, practice is the only place to grasp sanity and calm. What a gift we have to invite others to learn these skills.'
Pam led a special edition of the Worldwide Online Sit on September 17, 2020, with a talk entitled "A Reflection in the Time of Covid-19." Click on the image to watch it!
"Margaret and Rebecca have brought back to life the very best of Mindfulness, teaching and modeling its soul as well as the protocol. How wonderful is that?!"
Rick Pacelli on the Worldwide Online Sit
Rick Pacelli received his Doctor of Ministry degree from the Graduate Theological Seminary in Indiana. He specialized in meditation education in his course of studies. As part of that, he completed an intensive workshop on Centering Prayer Facilitation in Duluth, Minnesota.
He first learned to practice while a full time volunteer at Covenant House in NYC in 1984 by attending a workshop led by Thomas Keating. About his experience with Centering Prayer, Rick says, "I have taught church groups as well as many students at St. Paul’s School over the last 20 years. I have done intensive silent retreats at St. Benedict’s retreat house in Snowmass Colorado. During the first one, I was able to have a private meeting with Fr. Thomas for about an hour. A meeting I will never forget."
Rick led a special edition of the Worldwide Online Sit on January 7, 2021, with a talk focused on Centering Prayer. Click on the image to watch it!
"I’m grateful for the opportunity to have shared with you all in the Worldwide Sit. It was very powerful for me and a real blessing. Blessings are always welcome but this one was particularly sweet and timely."
January 2, 2020: “Turning Towards Joy”
January 9, 2020: “Learning to Relax With Who You Are”
January 16, 2020: “Slowing Down”
January 23, 2020: “Slow Down Practice”
January 30, 2020: “Experiencing the Experience”
April 2, 2020: “Staying Centered During Difficult Times”
April 9, 2020: “Navigating Difficulty”
April 23, 2020: “Caring for Yourself in a Crisis”
April 30, 2020: “S.I.T. Practice”
June 4, 2020: “Beyond the Quiet”
June 11, 2020: “The Practice of Rest”
June 18, 2020: “To Move and Be Moved”
June 25, 2020: “The Importance of Sadness”
July 2, 2020: “Compassionate Abiding to Cultivate Trust”
July 9, 2020: “Simplicity and Natural Awareness”
July 16, 2020: “How to Practice All Day Long”
July 23, 2020: “When a Little Bit is Enough”
July 30, 2020: “Tenderness 3 Times”
October 1, 2020: “The HOW of Practicing Mindfulness”
October 8, 2020: “Ordinary Practice”
October 15, 2020: “Arranging Your Mind for Practice”
October 22, 2020: “Wheel of Awareness Practice”
October 29, 2020: “A Practice for Sleep”
December 3, 2020: “Your Original Face”
December 10, 2020: “A Practice for Perfectionists”
December 17, 2020: “Reflecting and Savoring”
December 24, 2020: “Showing Up in Practice”
December 5, 2019: “Cultivating a Heart of Forgiveness”
December 19, 2019: “A Reflection on Giving and Receiving”
December 26, 2019: "How to E.N.D. your meditation practice"
January 2, 2020: “Turning Towards Joy”
January 9, 2020: “Learning to Relax With Who You Are”
January 16, 2020: “Slowing Down”
January 23, 2020: “Slow Down Practice”
January 30, 2020: “Experiencing the Experience”
April 2, 2020: “Staying Centered During Difficult Times”
April 9, 2020: “Navigating Difficulty”
April 23, 2020: “Caring for Yourself in a Crisis”
April 30, 2020: “S.I.T. Practice”
June 4, 2020: “Beyond the Quiet”
June 11, 2020: “The Practice of Rest”
June 18, 2020: “To Move and Be Moved”
June 25, 2020: “The Importance of Sadness”
July 2, 2020: “Compassionate Abiding to Cultivate Trust”
July 9, 2020: “Simplicity and Natural Awareness”
July 16, 2020: “How to Practice All Day Long”
July 23, 2020: “When a Little Bit is Enough”
July 30, 2020: “Tenderness 3 Times”
October 1, 2020: “The HOW of Practicing Mindfulness”
October 8, 2020: “Ordinary Practice”
October 15, 2020: “Arranging Your Mind for Practice”
October 22, 2020: “Wheel of Awareness Practice”
October 29, 2020: “A Practice for Sleep”
December 3, 2020: “Your Original Face”
December 10, 2020: “A Practice for Perfectionists”
December 17, 2020: “Reflecting and Savoring”
December 24, 2020: “Showing Up in Practice”
December 5, 2019: “Cultivating a Heart of Forgiveness”
December 19, 2019: “A Reflection on Giving and Receiving”
December 26, 2019: "How to E.N.D. your meditation practice"
Connect with East Coast Mindfulness on our social channels:
Questions? Contact us!